We are in(to) Kahoots, are you?

     The other day Leslie Fisher posted on Facebook about Kahoot, a "game-based classroom response system."  I had never heard of it so I immediately checked it out.  Now I am hooked.

     On the website you can create a quiz, survey, or post a discussion question.  You can create questions that include images and video.  The questions are projected on a big screen and students can answer the questions on individual devices that are connected to the Internet. This may sound a lot like other websites out there that do the same thing like Socrative; however, Kahoot has some features that sets it apart.

     The first thing that sticks out to me is that students can have accounts where they can make their own Kahoot, resulting in students being in charge of forming their own assessments.  In order to accomplish this, students need to do careful research and develop thought-provoking questions that include wrong answers.  Another difference is that Kahoot can keep points for correct and timely answers (you can create questions that are not point-based).  It is very engaging for everyone because the students are competing against each other and get immediate feedback. After answering a question the site reveals the correct answer with the number of how many people chose each answer.  Students' individual devices show them if they were correct or not and provide a rank among the other players.  A major bonus is that any device works with Kahoot because it is completely web-based... no app necessary.

    This week I tried it out with my third graders who are using Chromebooks.  We are working on CCSS standards regarding Geometry, specifically polygons, and I saw that others had posted quizzes on the topic.  A Kahoot can be shared and made public for others to use or copied of so that the quiz can be modified.  It was a roaring success! My kids asked to do the quiz twice and I have a spreadsheet of their responses from both times.  There is a breakdown by student and there are tabs for each question.

Ready, set, go!

   Last night I decided to give Kahoot creation a try.  I made my own polygon formative assessment with images.  It was so easy!  We used it today and the kids cheered. This is a miracle because at this point in the year they are so burned out from testing and their brains are focused more on summer escapades.

Victory and Defeat

Here is a video of what Kahoot looks like.